#safersaviour

Gaiman’s said they’re in love but he chose not to label them as ‘gay’ because they’re not male humans. Gives weight to the nonbinary/trans interpretation. It’s on his twitter from around the beginning of this month.

DirkJake in canon was unhealthy on both sides. For his part, Dirk did smother and pressure Jake until Jake basically fled the relationship. Dirk, of course, took this as validation of his own warped idea of who he was, which led into him jumping at the chance of a fight and the long convo with Dave. Fyi. Dirk Strider is my second favourite character in Homestuck (Dave edges him out). I adore him. And all his flaws.

I try not to doubt people’s feelings about Dirk, no worries- like I’ve said in my writing, I don’t think Dirkjake’s narrative would be outright lesser if Dirk was abusive or Dirk was controlling, and there’s absolutely a powerful narrative to draw from him that way, sure...

It’s just not the one I’m seeing in the story, and I want to bring the one I see to light--if only to be questioned. 

Here’s the problem from where I stand: 

I’m not sure what you mean by Dirk smothering Jake. 

Do you mean the Brobot? If so, Dirk wasn’t trying to control Jake or impose a training regimen on him. He was trying to give Jake what Jake kept saying he wanted--an adventure--and to do so in a way that kept Jake safe. It blew up on him, but at that point it’s not clear Dirk could actually do anything about it. So: not motivated by Dirk as an act of control, but rather one of service. 

If you think it’s really about training Jake rather than this motivation, then the question has to be asked: If he’s that ruthless and overbearing, why isn’t Jane getting trained? She’s even more unprepared than Jake, and in pretty much as much danger. The session will challenge her just as much. And yet Lil Seb has none of this Strife functionality. 

Jake, by the way, goes on to say he finds the Brobot exciting to Jane in confidence, and BGD later demonstrates Jake came not only to rely upon but believe in Dirk specifically as a protector figure, implying the Brobot itself was a better gift than it initially seemed to either. 

Are you including the AR? If so, Dirk had no agency and no moral means of controlling the AR’s behavior, and he actively seems to hate the AR for what it’s doing to Jake. 

Do you mean his suffocating behavior in the session? Yes, Dirk fucked up there. Dirk ain’t perfect, and I love his flaws too. But knocking those former two puts him on the level of the other Alphas, not somehow uniquely damaging to Jake. 

And it’s notable Dirk was so frantic and stressed BECAUSE of the AR’s behavior, combined with Jake toying with Dirk’s heart by presenting himself as straight and suggesting he and Dirk would be good if Dirk was a girl...and never bothering to clear up the lies with the guy. 

I would argue strongly against, not all, but definitely most of this. Dirk's arc is about self-perception, identity, and the weaponisation of that. He is controlling, domineering and can come off as unfeeling (although he very much isn't). He definitely isn't looking for acceptance from his peers; when talking to Dave, he outright rejects Roxy and Jane's positive views of him

Well, we don’t disagree about what Dirk’s arc concerns. We just disagree on it’s focus and execution. Imo he rejects Roxy and Jane’s positive views of him specifically because he doesn’t believe he’s worthy of them, and it’s a core part of his and Jake’s romantic arc that Dirk values Jake’s belief in him, specifically. 

But I won’t ask you to read the extensive stuff I’ve written on the subject--you can if you want to, it’s in my tag.

The show won’t include Hannibal Lecter though. So, it’ll be an entirely new take on ‘canon’. As with most adaptations.

Conveniently, Hannibal wasn’t in Clarice’s life for most of the seven years between The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, so it’s unnecessary for him to appear at all to have the show fit the overall story’s canon. She can still think of him from time to time, which I’m sure she did--that much is implied, if not stated outright, in Hannibal. At any rate, It might be a new take, but I’m willing to bet it won’t turn into the kind of every-character-is-incredibly-OOC fanfiction as what the NBC show eventually became, assuming it a) actually makes it onto the air (not a guarantee at this point) and b) gets renewed for a second/third season, etc.

Leonard's the first time a guy, or anyone really, has paid any positive attention to her. She's estranged from her family, she's been rotting in the same position at her job for years, she lives in a tiny apartment where the only person who comes to talk to her is looking for their cat. Allison recognises how creepy he is straight away, but Vanya is too lonely, her perspective is warped.